Now more than ever we must continue praying for religious freedom

Isn’t it now the case that if the Obama Administration punishes St. Ipsidipsy Catholic Hospital in Black Duck for refusing to provide employees their abortifacient pills, then the Federal Government is taxing the exercise of religion?

Why yes, yes it is. And the Department of Health and Human Services wants it that way. A tax on religion.

I believe Muslims call that the Jizya. Now it’s Barack Hussein Obama’s fee for being Catholic in America.

Are you outraged yet?

Unfettered religious freedom is a bedrock principle of our Republic. The Pilgrims came to these shores to escape persecution for their beliefs. Many more people of all faiths followed in their footsteps, yearning for liberty. Unique among nations, The United States respects all religions.

At least that’s the theory.

Barack Obama has set out to re-engineer the balance between Church and State. Rather than treating them equally, he’s positioned the State as arbiter of Church affairs.

You know who the last ruler to do that was? Henry VIII.

Please read Msgr. Desmond’s latest letter to our parish. And then join me in praying for our continued religious freedom.

To all parishioners of Saint Aloysius Parish,
To Democrats, Republicans and Independents,
To Liberals, Moderates and Conservatives,

My fellow Catholics,

During my lifetime and yours, we have taken for granted the religious freedom that has enabled America’s diverse religions to flourish in relative harmony with each other and with our government. However, recent months have seen an erosion in conscience protection for Catholics as well as those of other faiths.

by Sir John Hawkins

John Hawkins's book 101 Things All Young Adults Should Know is filled with lessons that newly minted adults need in order to get the most out of life. Gleaned from a lifetime of trial, error, and writing it down, Hawkins provides advice everyone can benefit from in short, digestible chapters.

The question: is religious liberty, is freedom of conscience, being made into a second-class right in the United States? Have the First Amendment guarantees been side-stepped?

Several weeks ago, our Catholic bishops (with the support of a number of Jewish and Protestant congregations) filed twelve lawsuits in federal court on behalf of forty-three Catholic institutions who are challenging a U.S. Department of Health & Human Services mandate. The issue is less about abortion, sterilization and supplying contraception than it is about a direct intrusion by our government into internal Church belief and practice, and the government’s threat to fine us heavily if we don’t do what it wants. The Church is asking the courts to repress an unprecedented government assault on the ability of religious groups in the United States to practice their faith without being forced to violate deeply held moral convictions.

Seemingly, the goal of the government mandate is to force religious organizations into a political agenda, requiring them to facilitate and fund services that violate Catholic sensibilities, and to do so within our own institutions. These are the hospitals, universities and so many other institutions that are necessary for a good society. They are being attacked! They are the buffers between individual citizens and an all-powerful, intrusive federal government. They have served the Church and all the people of our nation very well for many years.

Our American Founders followed Christ’s rule that the domains of God and Caesar be kept separate. In Europe, the Truce of Westphalia (1648) established a principle that the religion of the ruler was the religion of the state. This was an attempt to stop the constant quarrels among different denominations, and it more or less worked. The American Founders added a new dimension to this: freedom of conscience. In the American colonies, the Puritans had a stronghold in New England as did the Anglicans (Episcopalians) in Virginia.

There was significant Catholic dominance in Maryland. The Founders wisely agreed to keep religion out of the central government. The great Jesuit Fr. John Courtney Murray referred to this: “this was not an article of faith but an article of peace”.

George Washington said in his Farewell Address: “Let us with caution support the supposition that morality can be maintained without religion”. John Adams, #2, said: “Our Constitution was made for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other”. The point is that freedom of religion has been accepted as indispensable for the idea of America to succeed. To distort the noble relationship between Church and State is to run the risk of paying a terrible price. That day has come.

Do not trust the media! They carry water for Obama and the Democrats. Do not trust the Magisterium of Nuns; they front for an unholy alliance of radical feminists, abortionists, and politicians who are Catholic in name only. Trust in God, and in His Holy Church.

The Fortnight For Freedom ends on July 4th. Independence Day. Pray for our religious independence from Barack Obama’s despotism.